Losing your job is the blessing in disguise you need

You’ve been fired and you are feeling disappointed or fearful of what the future might hold.

However, this is not as bad as it may seem. The best defence against this career setback is positivity.

Here are some strategic tips to cope:

Be gentle on yourself.

Allow yourself to feel the emotions you need to go through. Give yourself time to think about and process them logically. Practice self-awareness during this trying time.

Express your emotions.

Once you have processed your emotions after being fired, you’re allowed to cry, shout, and talk about them with your family or even your close colleagues.

Learn from the experience.

Once you have recognised the feelings and expressed them, approach your company's human resource department. Enquire about what you should do differently at your next job. Insist that they highlight a few of your positive and negative qualities – knowing how you are perceived in a professional environment has positive long term effects.

Make the change.

You may have to deal with feelings of regret and it may lead to some unanswered questions. Do not allow this to hold you back for too long. Stay positive - we wish you the best of luck. Rather see this as an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. This really is your one chance to take control of your professional career.

• Make sure that you have a list of people with good references. If you have no positive professional references, you can add the name and number of a trusted organisational leader, a business acquaintance or a religious leader.